Swim Obsession
by Scarlett B. Haven
Summary: After the incident with her father, Mizuki gave up competing for good. While leaving everything behind in America; she transfers to Iwatobi High School as a freshman. To her surprise she is found out by the treasurer of the Swim Club. Who is begging her to join! Will Mizuki take up the offer? Or will she keep her word and quit for good?
1. New Start

**New Start**

Breathe…Breathe…Concentrate… This is endless…

"And Time!" Ruby shouted as I quickly did a last undulation and smacked my hand on the wall. "Wow that was intense!" Ruby exclaimed while leaning over to show me my time. I glanced at the stop watch she was holding while removing my cap and goggles gently tipping my head back in the water to smooth out my long hair. "Well?" she asked waiting for me to respond.

"It's ok." I said.

"It's ok? Oh my gosh! Mizuki like less than two minutes is "ok" but under a minute that's fantastic! Tell me why did you ever quit the swim team?"

"Reasons." I stated bluntly. I haven't told anyone yet about my dad leaving me and mom. Maybe it's because I refuse to believe it. He was the one who taught me how to swim and from that my love for it grew. I recalled the days floating on my back gazing up at the endless blue sky; with my dads arms right underneath me in case I sank.

"Hello? Earth to Mizuki!" Ruby said snapping me out of my memories.

"Huh?" Oh yea. Sorry about that." I said quickly realizing Ruby was now holding my towel out to me. I took it and began to dry off.

"I don't know why you keep practicing if your not interested in joining any teams. Is it just to get a tan? If so stop right there Hun because you already have an amazing complexion. You're lucky you don't burn like me!" Ruby exclaimed while smacking my butt with the extra towel I laid out for her in case she changed her mind to join me for a swim.

"Oh no you did not just do that!" I said raising both my hands as I slowly began to approach her, ready to release the tickle monster!

"EEEEKKKK! Mrs. Hinamori help me!" Ruby shouted while running behind my mom. Most people say I look exactly like my mom with her long straight black hair and thin toned body. But when it came to my personality and emerald eyes you can defiantly see those features came from my dad. Since he left she could barley look me in the eye. I quickly then noticed she wore her black slacks with a sandy brown top that complimented her tired looking hazel eyes. However there was an accessory I wasn't to fond to see… A suitcase.

"Hello Ruby." She greeted. However her eyes were fixed on me and then she took a final glance at the lap pool behind me. "Mizuki I thought I told you to get ready by two our flight leaved in about an hour!" She said to me with a slightly stressed tone.

"Sorry mom. I lost track of time." I said glancing at the cement floor.

"It's ok just hurry and wash up." She said while turning to walk back into the house. The house I've spent my whole life in. A two bedroom two bath single story home. With a killer lap pool that my dad designed.

"Guess it's time to say goodbye?" Ruby uttered while her aqua eyes shifted into a dim blue as a tear escaped down her cheek.

"Oh Ruby…" I said slowly pulling her into a hug. Usually she hated it when I gave her wet hugs, but this was an exception. She clung onto me now beginning to sob.

"I'm going to miss you Miz! Do you have to move to Japan? You can stay with me and my folks. I'm sure they wouldn't mind! Plus we can start High School together here in California where you belong!" She finished now taking a step back from me to see my reaction. Her dark brown shoulder length hair was now messy, and her light blue strapless summer dress damp from the hug.

"You know I would love to stay here and start High School with you. But Ruby my mom needs me. She can't stand to be here any longer. This house…This Country… It's killing her slowly. Everything reminds her of my dad. What she needs is to go back to Japan. Maybe then she can finally…"I drifted off now clutching my other arm in hopes of keeping the tears back. Ruby looked at me with that reassuring smile of hers as she placed a hand on my shoulder.

"There's always Video Chat right?" She asked while smiling.

"Right!" I said perking up. We then began to finish our goodbyes as I lead her out the door.

"This is going to be fun." I muttered now taking my seat on the plane.

"Oh sweetie you're going to love Japan. Plus you get to meet my side of the family for once." She finished as she took her seat beside me.

"Right. And I'm going to your old High School right?" I asked not taking my gaze from the window as the plane began to take off.

"Ah yes; Iwatobi High. It brings back such fond memories."

"Is that where you met dad?" I said slowly, this however caught her off guard.

"Um yea." She said in a whisper.

"On the Swim Team?" I questioned.

"You know Miz; it's going to be a long flight. Why don't you take a nap? She rushed trying to avoid answering the question. I knew persisting forward would only result in another huge argument. So I decided to drop it for now. I nodded to her then shifted my body to completely face the window. It wasn't long before the clouds became a distant memory as sleep began to consume me.

**(Dream)**

"Swimmers take your mark…Get set…BLEEP!" I jumped back flinging my arms in stream line position as the coolness embraced me and alerted me to proceed. As I began to surface I saw that same endless blue sky. I quickly focused on a center point in the sky to keep my center; as I cut through the crystal blue water. It felt good to be racing. "Breathe… Breathe… Concentrate…" I repeated mentally. With each stroke I heard the crowd roar, but most importantly during the last lap I heard the distant yelling of my Dad.

"Miz! It's the final lap make it count!" I heard as I flipped turned and kicked my undulation into high gear. Back then I loved to swim, especially when it came to backstroke. I could never put my finger on why I loved it so much… I just did. The flags were now above me signaling the last few strokes I needed to hit the wall. My last bit of adrenalin kicked in as I banged my hand on the wall. With one swift motion I quickly turned around to look at the results board for the 100 M Backstroke. It read _Mizuki First place, Time 57 seconds! "_I…I did it!" I screamed mentally as I hopped out of my lane.

"Honey your broke a minute! Oh I'm so proud of you!" He said while running up to me. "All that hard work finally paid of!" He exclaimed while scooping me up in a big bear. That was the last race I swam in since the incident…

**(End Dream)**

"Mizuki…Mizuki. Wake up, the planes about to land. My mom said while gently shaking me awake.

"Huh? Already?" I muttered while rubbing my eyes.

"Yes honey you slept the whole 14 hours."

"Wow celebrities weren't kidding when they said how flight travel is very tiring." I joked. "Maybe a new start wouldn't be so bad." I said to myself while getting off the plane.


	2. Iwatobi High

**Iwatobi High**

With everything unpacked our new home started to feel a little more livable. We live within walking distance from the school which is good because now I don't have to take a train. However this house pales in comparison to the one in America. This house was a lot more smaller being a two bedroom one bath home, but since its just me and mom now I don't mind. The only downer I really saw was that it didn't come with a pool.

"Miz your uniform just came in." Mom shouted from the front door.

"Coming!" I said while walking out of my room." I wonder how bad this uniform will be." I muttered to myself. To my surprise it wasn't that bad. At the collar of the white button up was a bright red bow. My sight then came to a brown skirt and a navy blue blazer to complete the look. The uniform dare I say it was actually cute.

"Mizuki you should get to bed you have school in the morning." She said coming from behind to glance at the uniform.

"Ugh mom… You seriously couldn't have waited like a week before throwing me back into school?" I stated now giving my mom my famous pouting face.

"Well they already started school dear, and I didn't want you to fall behind." She smiled now taking the uniform from my hands as we began to make our way toward my room. I quickly got underneath the covers while watching my mom hang tomorrow's uniform behind my door. "Get some sleep honey." She said as she shut off my lights and exited the room.

I just laid there staring at the ceiling for which seemed like eternity until my eyelids became heavy and I dozed off.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP.

"Ugh what's that noise?" I mumbled groggily. I looked over to my right and saw my dolphin alarm clock. "Oh its you." While turning off my alarm clock I glanced around my plain room. All there was were a few stuffed animals that sat on top of my dresser that was placed on the right side of the room by the door. There next to my bed was a night stand which had a lamp and a picture of me and Ruby sitting neatly on top of it. Oh and that annoying alarm clock sat there as well. Over to my left was a huge window that looked out into the garden of our backyard.

"Hey Miz you up?" My mom called

"Yea I just need to put my uniform on."

"Ok better hurry. School starts at 7 a.m." She finished.

I looked over at my clock; it read 6 a.m. "I have plenty of time." I thought this as I was doing my usual morning routine. As I began to head out the door I noticed a note on the kitchen counter.

_**Dear Mizuki: **_

_**I already left to go job hunting. I won't be Back till a little after dinner, so don't wait up for me. I hope your first day goes smoothly.**_

_**Happy Monday!**_

_**-Love Mom**_

"Oh it's a happy Monday indeed mom." I muttered as I now locked the place up.

The walk over to school was pretty peaceful. It sucked that summer vacation had to end so soon. "Hmm I wonder what my classes are." I asked myself while pulling out a crumpled piece of paper from my blazer; it read.

_**Period 1: Homeroom**_

_**Period 2: Biology**_

_**Period 3: English**_

_**Lunch**_

_**Period 4: Geometry**_

_**Period 5: European History**_

_**Period 6: Art**_

I glanced up from my schedule to find I was already at the school gates.

"Hey!" Someone said to me, as I quickly turned around to see that it was an energetic blonde; with a kind smile that could light up a room.

"Hey." I began to answer back only to get hair in my mouth; thanks to the wind that was picking up. He laughed at this and held out his hand.

"I'm Nagisa Hazuki a first year, and you are?"

"I'm Mizuki Hinamori also a first year. I just moved here so I don't really know my way around." I mentioned coyly while shaking his hand.

"Hinamori?" He asked with a shocked expression. But as quickly as the shock came, it then left leaving nothing but mischievousness in his light brown eyes. "So what's your first class?" He now tried adverting to another question.

"Homeroom." I slowly said giving him an odd look.

"Me too!" He exclaimed. "Come on I'll walk you there." He now grabbed my hand making me blush in return as he started pulling me towards class.

"Hello I'm Mizuki Hinamori." I began to introduce myself. "I'm from the United States, California to be exact." I finished as there was whispers going on about how "Hot" I am, and if I had a boyfriend. I quickly disregarded these statements as I now looked toward the teacher for further instruction. She looked at me then said.

"Oh right. Class who would like to volunteer to show Ms. Hinamori around at lunch?"

"Oh me!" Nagisa shot up waving his hand as if it was on fire.

"Very well. Mr. Hazuki will be your guide, and you can take that empty seat next to…" She motioned toward a girl who wore her hair long and up in a high pony tail.

"Smart move. I should have brought a hair tie." I said amongst myself.

"Go Matsuka." She finished. This however made her fly out of her seat yelling.

"It's Ko not Go!"

"Right Ko…" The teacher said uneasily as she now began to take the rest of roll. Upon close examination Ko had Mahogany colored hair with big bright eyes to match.

"Hey!" She said a little above a whisper.

"Hi."

"After Nagisa shows you around tell him to take you to the roof!"

"Why?" I asked giving her a curious look.

"Just trust me." She giggled

"Ok." I said warily as now the teacher gave us one of those settle down looks. Seeing how it was the first day for me. I really didn't want to get thrown out of class. So I faced forward and began listening to her boring speech.


	3. The Boys

The Boys

"And this is where we'll be concluding the tour." Nagisa said as he was unlocking the gate to the pool.

"So you guys just redid the pool." I asked recalling on earlier in the tour he mentioned something about redoing a pool. He unlocked the gate and I saw the Iwatobi pool for the first time. It was so breathtaking to see an actual pool again. It almost made me want to strip down and go in.

"Yea! The whole swim club helped out, it was a lot of fun working on a project with them." He beamed while saying this.

"Sounds like you guys are close." I now walked to the edge of the pool and bent over sticking my hand in creating little ripples.

"We are, we've been swimming together since elementary school." I looked over at him as he said that and instantly thought of Ruby.

"What's wrong?" He asked concerned.

"Oh nothing. It's just that what you said reminded me of my best friend back in the States.

"Is she a swimmer to?"

"How do you know I'm a swimmer?" I faced him immediately while crossing my arms.

"Oh…Um… By the way you look at the pool. He blushed. "It's funny actually, you have the same look in your eyes as Haru-chan when you look at the pool."

"Oh is that all?" I sighed in relief. Man for some reason I got the feeling that he knew who I was. Maybe I'm being too cautious. "So who's Haru-chan?" I asked with a slight smile. "Is she your girlfriend?" This made him go bright red as he started laughing hysterically.

"Haru's a boy!" He told me while wiping tears from his eyes.

"I'm sorry! I just figured he was a girl because he had a girl's name." I looked toward the ground feeling super embarrassed.

"Its ok we all have girls names."

"We?" I stared at him in confusion.

"The whole swim club is made up with guys who have girl names. Excluding our manager Gou who has a guy name." That's when her words hit me.

"After Nagisa's done showing you around tell him to take you to the roof." Kou's voice echoed through my mind. Aw crap, what would I be getting myself into if I went to the roof?

"So is there anything else your curious to see?" He asked.

"Um…" I began blushing. I didn't know how he would react. I mean come on now it's the roof! Don't couples in manga usually have make out sessions there? I tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear and continued. "How about the roof?" He looked at me puzzled for a moment; until a big grin crossed his face. Nagisa grabbed my hand and started making his way back into the school building. This scared me to death, Nagisa looks all sweet and innocent but could that actually be an act? God I hope not…

"Um Nagisa?" I said nervously.

"Were almost there." He stated as we began ascending the stairs that I assumed lead to the roof.

"Nagisa…" I whispered while pulling my hand out of his grasp.

"Were here." He began to open the door where a bright white light began to pour into the dark stairwell. Blinded I began to make my way until I ran into something. Suddenly I began to fall backwards. Closing my eyes I began to brace myself for the soon to be painful impact. A few seconds past and I slowly opened my eyes wondering why I didn't feel any pain. Had Nagisa caught me? I looked up to see a bright pair of light green eyes. I blushed heavily as I then noticed his muscular arms wrapped around me holding me up to his chest.

"Um" I began to say until he cut in.

"I'm so sorry I didn't see you there! Are you alright?" I could feel every word vibrating through me as he spoke, but before I could answer another voice intervened.

"Nice save Makoto!" Kou exclaimed giving us a thumbs up.

"Are you going to hold her all day Makoto?" Nagisa said teasingly as he passed by us. We immediately looked at each other as a slight blush crossed both of our faces.

"Oh right… Sorry." He then released his hold on me and stepped back.

"Thanks." I gently said looking over at him. This made Makoto go red instantly.

"Yea. No problem." He grinned nervously while running his hand through his hair. The slight breeze picked up my hair. As I now noticed a whole group of people staring at us.

"Well Mizuki this is the roof. The majority of the time you can find us eating up here. It looks like everyone's here so let me start the introductions! Guys this is Mizuki Hinamori a fellow first year transfer student from the States!" Nagisa then pointed to a guy with raven hair that gently caressed his face. His eyes an astonishing azure blue. "This is Haru-chan! He's a second year and he swims free style."

"I only swim freestyle." He simply said.

"Haru is a man of many words." Nagisa joked. He moved on now pointing to a guy with short dark blue hair and deep purple eyes framed by red glasses. "This is Rei a first year like us and he swims Butterfly." Nagisa then came up and cupped his hands around my left ear and whispered. "Don't be fooled we barley taught Rei how to swim a couple weeks ago he's a newbie." He teased.

"Hey what did you just tell her?" Rei said with an upset tone.

"OH NOTHING!" Nagisa giggled then pointed to Kou. "And you've already met our classmate Gou." This made her fly over to where Nagisa and I stood and gripped his collar.

"It's Kou not Gou!" She stated with a hiss. I'm assuming she hates to be called Gou.

"HaHa…Sorry Gou." She then released him and went back to sit next to Rei.

"UGH whatever." She breathed then began to eat out of her bento again. Nagisa then gave me a sly look and continued with the final introduction.

"And you kinda already met Makoto." I looked over to my right completely unaware that he was standing very close to me. He had soft brown hair the same length as Haruka, but styled differently. All the guys looked about the same height with Nagisa being the exception who was about a little shorter than the rest. When I looked back into his green eyes I then realized I was checking him out. Crap! Did he notice? I instantly went red and broke our moment. During this Nagisa was telling me he was into Breaststroke and Makoto did Backstroke. This immediately brought my attention back to Makoto as I blurted out.

"You're a Backstroker?" I could feel my heart sing as I recalled the days I spent trying to perfect my stroke. I almost began to lose myself that is until I saw the look on everyone's face, especially Nagisa's. My guard was quickly brought up again.

"Yea are you?" Makoto tried to read me. To Ruby I was an open book but to others I was impossible to read.

"Not really." I lied.

"You know we could really use more members and since you know a lot about swimming why don't you join?" Rei asked as he then turned to Makoto.

"What do you say Captain?" This sent me into over drive. How did they find out?

"HOLD IT! First of all who said I was a swimmer? And second of all how do you know im any good? Besides it's my decision to join the team or not." After this outburst everyone looked toward Kou and asked in unison.

"I thought you said she wanted to join?"

Then Kou blurted out.

"I kind of just assumed she would! Plus Nagisa said she was some famous swimmer from the States!" She then held her mouth and looked at me. Shock traveled across my face as I now began to back up from everyone.

"How did you know that? I asked. Then I recalled Nagisa saying my name all weird and looking at me funny back at the school gates this morning. That must have been the moment where he put it together…


End file.
